"MY LORDS OF THE COUNCIL."

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 112, 14 May 1929, Page 6

"MY LORDS OF THE COUNCIL."

Recently the Judicial Committee of the PrivyCouncil reserved judgment in a legal action that hinged on the question whether an ancient idol in a Jain temple at Shirpur, in Bombay, should or should not be draped. The litigants were two sects of the Jain faith, who had been legally fighting for 29 years. One party said that the idol should* be worshipped draped, the other that it should be nude. Such are the questions that the Privy Council is sometimes called upon to decide. "The story of a great institution becomes to a critical student imbued with the interest which attaches to a noble life,'and excites the same personal emotion. It seems to have a being, or distinction, a purpose of its own." In these words Sir Almeric Fitzroy ..sums up the cause why his book* should be read by all Englishmen who care to know more of the system of government of our Empire. In truth, with the exception of the Monarchy itself, the Privy Council is the oldest part of the governance of England now existing, Parliament being of much later date; from the earliest times the Kings, though despotic rnonarchs, relied on the help of advisers chosen as a rule from the nobles or from the King's personal followers. By degrees the growth of administrative work forced the Kings to delegate to this purely advisory body an everincreasing part in the duties of government, chiefly that of deciding matters referred to the Sovereign as a fountain of justice. From this aspect of conciliar work sprang our judicial system—the Common Law Courts—while later the rigidity of these Courts having led to appeals being made to the King, a fresh offshoot of the Council, the Court of Chancery, was created. It is impossible to trace in detail the work of the King's Council through the centuries that succeeded. By the time of the Tudors, that race of royal statesmen to whom, together with Edward 1., Sir Almeric gives unstinted praise, the Council took oil some new aspects which are not unworthy of study at the present clay. While Parliament did exist, a large part of the work of governing had, from sheer logic of development and the necessities of the time, passed from its hands to that of the Council, and the country was ruled by "Orders-in-Coun-cil." The Court of Star Chamber and its contemporary, the Court of High Commission, Avere branches of the Privy Council, and were at first wholly beneficent in their operation. The Tudors, though despots in fact, always keenly watched public opinion, and them council government was on the whole popular, but under the Stuarts, with their belief in divine right and their blindness to facts, the Council, by its arbitrary methods, soon lost favour, and the rise of the power of Parliament destroyed the two Courts to which most odium attached. It is in this matter that Sir Almeric's book has most value as giving food for thought. The moral is- that "Order-in-Council," to which so much exception is taken not only in New Zealand, but in England and in other places, is simply due to the fact that Parliament either has not or will not afford the time to consider legislation in all its aspects, and leaves the enactment and working out of details to the executive body who proceed by "Order-in-Council." Sir Almeric more than once points out that the modern use of Orders-in-Council is due to the difficulty of getting legislation through Parliament. A large part of the book which follows deals with the relations of the Council with the American and West Indian colonies, and goes into much detail and clearly traces the causes of the loss of the American colonies. The governing of these was done through the Council, and its rule was not half as unjust as we were taught to believe. It made mistakes, but it had to deal with a people who chafed at every restraint, however small. With the formation of a Colonial Office the duties of the Council regarding the colonies declined, but a subsidiary body, the Judicial Committee, was formed later to deal with legal appeals from overseas. This body was also a Court of Appeal for ecclesiastical matters, and one of its most famous decisions was the one by which it was said that the Lord Chancellor took from orthodox churchmen their last hope of eternal damnation. During war time the Privy Council's work was increased a hundredfold. Necessity for quick decision and the impossibility for Parliament to deal with every contingency led to extraordinary powers being given to the Council, and a neverending succession of orders, proclamations, or revocations was the result. Perhaps no body has ever deserved more respect than the Privy Council. Its antiquity, the enormous powers it has from time to time wielded, the fairness with which, on the whole, it has exercised its authority, and its use when extraordinary situations arose, have made it a valuable means of government well suited to a people who are above all things practical. *"ThP Hisrorv of tho Privy Council." by Sir Almeric Fitzroy, K.C.8., K.C.V.O. (.Tolm Murray).